Comebacks and Fast Forwards
by Manjo Zalamea
November 16, 2008 – It was a manic draw day for The 2008 Yonex-Sunrise Philippines National Open Badminton Championships. Despite the fact that, in typical Pinoy fashion, 90% of the participants waited until the last minute to hand-in their applications, this year’s much-awaited tournament will see the largest number of entries in its 5-year history.
It will be tough Open Men’s Singles field as veteran and former members of the National squad face the much younger current players who now make up the National Team. Last year’s YSPNOBC Open Men’s Singles Champion Lloyd Escoses will have to dig deep to defend his title as he faces the much younger and current No. 1 Tobi Gadi and experienced and former No. 1 Ian Piencenaves, who bowed out in last year’s quarter finals to eventual runner-up Arolas Amahit.
Likewise defending their title, last year’s Open Mixed Doubles Champions Arolas Amahit and Noelle Cassandra Ang-Siy will have their work cut out for them as they try to stand up to Kennie and Kennevic Asuncion, considered the country’s top Mixed Doubles pair, having reached as high as No. 10 in the world rankings.
In the Open Ladies’ Singles event, a potential showdown awaits as Malvinne Anne Alcala and Karyn Velez are both entered in the event. Their first encounter earlier this year, where Alcala prevailed, has set this up to be one of the most awaited match-ups in this year’s tournament. While they will potentially meet in the final, Alcala, who is fresh from her training stint in Indonesia, and Velez, who will surely be gunning for revenge, have to work their way through the draw. To add to the excitement and challenge,
This year’s YSPNOBC is also shaping up to be one of the few badminton tournaments that is truly National in scope as entries from Laguna, Bulacan, Nueva Viscaya, Iloilo, Butuan, and Cagayan de Oro will tough it out against all other entrants from the NCR. Capiz’s Lynette Esico, who captured the Juniors Ladies Doubles Champion in 2004, returns to YSPNOBC, having missed the tourney from 2005-07.
This year’s event is also proving to be a scholastic battleground as the top UAAP and other Collegiate Schools fielded entries. Players from UP Diliman, DLSU, FEU, UE, College of St. Benilde, and Rizal Technological University are entered across several events in the Open and Seniors A categories.
In the Juniors category, players from La Salle Greenhills, Rizal HS, Miriam, Poveda, North Fairview HS, among others, will carry their school colors proudly as they battle against each other and representatives from most of the major badminton training camps. Players from as young as 8 years old and younger from the Golden Shuttle Foundation, Jaime Llanes Training Camp (JLTC)- Battledore, Allied/Astec, William & William Gabuelo Badminton Academy, MSI Bulacan, Escoses Training Camp/YPBC/Kason, Dunlop-Whackers Badminton Academy, among others, will see action in six age-groups where the gold is up for grabs.
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